Monthly Archives: June 2013

My (rising) 8th grade son, Thomas, asked a brilliant question the other day: who’s the antagonist of Ender’s Game. One of the reasons I love this question is that he asked this on a book he’s reading for his personal interest using tools he’s learned in school. It’s always great to see “school learning” applied in real life. Even better, if your pedagogical view is that it’s better to provide students tools of learning than to tell them what something means, it’s fabulous to see it in use.

***SPOILERS***

The other reason it’s brilliant is that this simple question goes to the heart of Ender’s Game. As you examine each potential antagonist, you come to grips with the role each plays in this mess of war and near xenocide. Everyone is culpable to some degree, even Ender Wiggin. Let’s go down the list of the most obvious suspects:

the “buggers” – of course, we learn, they didn’t think they attacked sentient beings the first time and certainly weren’t planning to attack again. They presumed that if you didn’t have a hive mind, your weren’t sentient. Obvious lesson: don’t presume those who are different are thereby less. The buggers did.

Mazer Rackham – while he misled Ender, he thought he did so as the only way he thought he could save humanity.

Colonel Graff – ditto

Peter Wiggin – Used the situation for his own political gain.

Valentine Wiggin – OK, I admit, it’s hard to find much fault here, but she does love being Demosthenes with Peter’s Locke and pushes their agenda even while not trusting Peter.

Ender Wiggin – took much at face value although he was trained from his childhood experience to do otherwise; wanted to be the best to the point that he didn’t reflect as well as he could. I believe that with his greatness, he could have discovered the truth.

We could go on; the point is, that all sin, all fall short of the glory of God even while none are as evil as they possibly could be.

Now this brings us to the next point – is a preemptive strike ever justified? If so, what are the criteria that must be met for it to be just? Traditionally, just war criteria are:

the cause must be just – you are fighting for something that it morally good or right,

war must be a last resort; all other avenues have been explored

it must be declared by a proper authority; this means it’s declared (which suggests no preemptive strikes) and done by a sovereign country’s appropriate office,

Now, I do think there is a case for a preemptive strike. For example, I would think that if you have utterly stark evidence that you can prevent much harm by doing so, it would be justified. If I have irrefutable evidence in October of the Japanese plans for Pearl Harbor, I had the means to successfully prevent it and by doing so kill fewer people and possibly reduce the length of a potentially long war, then I would be justified. Indeed, in that case, you could argue I’m obligated to prevent or mitigate the furor of war. However, the evidence would have to be incredibly strong. No “Weapons of Mass Destruction” oops. So, it would be inordinately rare that one could justly initiating battle. Indeed, we could determine, even before the battle, that the preemptive strike in Ender’s Game is not just. We don’t have evidence that the “buggers” are massing for attach again. Moreover, we’re not sure we can win and do less harm than a battle that would ensue. By the way, this is very different from the question of the preemptive strike being reasonable. Based on the stakes at hand (human kind wiped out), the power of the enemy (if we wait it will be too late) and the previously unprovoked attack, a preemptive strike was a reasonable, albeit, unjust move.

As Ender says to himself in his recurring dream, “…everything was combat and puzzles to solve–defeat the enemy before he kills you, or figure out how to get past the obstacle. Now, though, no one attacked, there was no war, and wherever he went, there was no obstacle at all.” (p. 140 Kindle Edition) . Ender was in the mood for war. In this context, war was a forgone conclusion.

So, through a series of choices, some larger, some smaller, we build the path to our future and the way in which events will go. The antagonist, then, is whom or what? Is it the “military-industrial complex”? Is it an idea? Human preservation at all costs (even when we’re prepping to go to war with ourselves immediately upon vanquishing the alien?) Is it our fear of the unknown or foreign? Is it simply sin itself? I argue that the issues in this story show the depravity of man against which we may not battle and win. One where we need an external savior; someone wholly other than ourselves. Thus we are saved from ourselves and others, but not by our own ability. Even the very best of Ender’s, and humanity’s efforts, is flawed since we are wholly depraved. Not that every aspect of ourselves is as wicked as it can be but that all aspects of us are under the cloud of sin. So that our motives and thinking are flawed through sin. We are unable, without outside grace, to respond appropriately to what appears to be a threat to our existence. We need to Jesus to substitute his life for ours, pay for our sin, free us to follow him and eradicate sin. Reasonable decisions failed Joshua and the Israelites when the Gibeonites deceived them, failed the spies when they investigated the promised land and failed the people of Jericho when they trusted strong walls. Do we abandon reason? No. We simply make it subservient to Christ and his word.

Now, one of my other theologically astute sons, Logan, points out that you could say sin is the root of all conflict and evil. Sure enough. So what’s different here? There is no clear proximate cause of the battle with the buggers, barring the original attack from the buggers. This novel brings out clearly the myriad of forms by which sin insinuates itself in our thinking and lives; how we are misled. Without a smoking gun catalyst, we are in a position to see the subtly of sin weaved in our decision making.

So, with a simple question, based on tools passed on in school, my son initiates some fairly reflective thinking on Ender and war. Thanks to Mr. Card, we have an opportunity to reflect on the just use of preemptive strikes, the process that leads us to immoral war and its consequences (in Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide).

I am reaching, but I fall
And the stars are black and cold
As I stare into the void
– Javert & Jean Valjean, Les Miserables

Ms. Ee’s amazing book both places us in awe of a great story and the shock of pain for the inhabitants of it. Heavenly angels and fallen angels from Hell war with one another with devastating impact on the earth. Humans simply know that once angels were among us, so was devastation. Clearly from its reception, the characters and narrative resonate with us. The grand struggle is off-set with the personal impact on those who live through it. Penryn so desperately works to hold her family together consisting of a whacked out mother and a little sister in a wheelchair. This is daunting enough in a civilized world, in the left over rubble of Penryn’s world; it’s heart-breakingly hard. You’re pulled through the twists and turns like a bobsled down a run. Along the way, an intriguing cast of characters jump in the sled, but they’re not just along for the ride; they change the run and each other.

Satan as rebel

Before I dive into details, and some spoilers, I do want to say what’s probably obvious to all but feel the need to make clear: while the inspiration for the back-story of the angels is from the Bible, these angels and the way their hierarchy works are not Biblical. I’m quite confident that Ms. Ee recognized the artistic license taken. This may be a bit more detail than desired, but I just don’t want anyone to walk away with the wrong impression. So the Nephilim are Biblical and the idea that they’re offspring of angels is a reasonable interpretation of the Bible (Genesis 6:4, Numbers 13:33) and that this led to wickedness and finally the Flood (Genesis 6:5-8). There are also more detailed references to the Nephilim in the extra-canonical books (outside the Bible) of Enoch and Jubiliees. The notion of angels and archangels is also Biblical (e.g., 1 Thessalonians 4:16 & Jude 1:9) which also implies a hierarchical structure (but isn’t explicit about this). However, there is no sense that the orders come down from a main archangel or that no other angel communicates directly with God. Gabriel stands in the presence of God even as he brings good news of John’s impending birth to Zechariah. Michael also contends with the devil and pronounces the Lord’s rebuke. The word “angel” (Hebrew – malach, Greek – aggelos) implies messenger. They are before God’s thrown and directly convey his messages to people on earth; they do not rely on their orders from another angel. So, the communication mess used in Angelfall is not one that could happen (but does make for beautiful drama which, I’m sure, was Ms. Ee’s design) nor would non-fallen angels be so human in their politics.

Now for the ****spoilers**** part of the review

What both draws us into the drama so deeply and simultaneously reviles us is the evil and pain angels inflict on humans and each other. The disparity between the angels of heaven and hell is becoming narrow through this time; hell is reaching up to drag them down and the heavenly angels aren’t resisting the pull. Like Javert and Jean Valjean, they both seem to stare into the void and come up with no answers. I’ve previously written about the use of evil in SciFi and Fantasy, let me just say that my body tried to crawl within itself at some of these moments; Paige being cut open and formed into a monster both physically and, at least to some degree, mentally makes me retch. I am drawn into the story and I’m looking forward to the sequel, but I do feel like I’m receiving body blows when I read this kind of travesty. So the scenes of the Nephilim (I presume) sucking the life out of live but benumbed people (mostly women) and bat wings attached to an angel ripping his own flesh and others are hard for me to read through. To be honest, it’s not an experience I voluntarily want to put myself through. I may seem a bit squeamish and many relish this kind of rush of challenge. For me, it takes a pretty compelling story to dive back in; Angelfall is such a story.

Angelfall has a truly great heroine in Penryn; her willingness to give all for her family and those in need, her kick-ass fighting while being a petite girl and her ability to manage in difficulties in the midst of many unknowns are some of her delightful characteristics. Raphael is amazing – driven by love and honor, he holds fast whilst his comrades are deeply tempted and treat humans poorly. His willingness to “fix” the issue of his heavenly host failures has been centuries of work and he holds fast through it all. Penryn’s mom adds some wonderful color.

A fabulous tale with piquant twists and turns whilst living out good versus evil on all levels of the scale. I’m reminded of another tale where evil is often present and, unintended consequences are devastating to others – Les Misérables:

There, out in the darkness
A fugitive running
Fallen from god
Fallen from grace
God be my witness
I never shall yield
Till we come face to face
Till we come face to face

He knows his way in the dark
Mine is the way of the Lord
And those who follow the path of the righteous
Shall have their reward
And if they fall
As Lucifer fell
The flame
The sword!
– Javert, Les Misérables

I jumped between my Kindle and the Audible version of the book. Caitlin Davies does a masterful job as narrator. This tale is told from the point of view of Penryn. She not only nails the voice, but also performs the interchange of dialog among the characters masterfully. (Personal privilege – Windows dev team for Audible, thanks for getting Whispersync for Voice working on the Windows Phone 8 client).

I will leaves us with hope that in a future book in the series, we shall see, with Portia, the quality of mercy:

The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

I finally had an opportunity to read Immersion. It reminded me of what a moron I can be. I’ve read short stories, especially SciFi, from time to time, but never made it a habit. Yet it was relatively rare that I didn’t like short stories; I think they just always left me wanting more, but what good novel doesn’t do that?

Ms. de Bodard reminds me, in Immersion, how incredibly great good short stories are. Within sentences, she pulls you into Quy’s world. In a brief expanse of words, 5385 to be exact, Ms. de Bodard introduces us to two cultures, a sense of social strata, deals with over reliance on technology, our inability to be at peace with who we are physically and otherwise and our desire to project someone we want to be. Mostly she deals with that slippery-slope of dependence to addiction. She does so in the context of challenging familial relations as well as a family business. She does more in 5385 words than many authors do in long novels. She does it with beautiful phrasing and a clear voice. As an example, in these three sentences, she brings in some insinuated history and culture, family relations and the protagonists own feeling of inadequacy and failure:

“Quy said nothing. Her own dreams had shriveled and died after she came back from Prime and failed Longevity’s mandarin exams; but it was good to have Tam around—to have someone who saw beyond the restaurant, beyond the narrow circle of family interests. Besides, if she didn’t stick with her sister, who would?”

Aliette de Bodard

Like any great love, I’m not letting this one out of my sight again. I immediately subscribed, via Kindle to Clarkesworld, the magazine that published this piece. What a lovely gem, mots justes during a lunch break, to rekindle my love for short story. One lovely added benefit of Clarkesworld is that Kate Baker reads many of the short stories. Her reading hits the level of dramatic reading without over shadowing the writing. I love her breathy quality as she hits the panic button.

Immersion illustrated by Jenny Wiik

I highly commend Ms. de Bodard’s story and have already downloaded her novella, On a Red Station, Drifting on my Kindle. I look forward to reading many of her works.

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The impact of evil is most potent when it’s personal, palpable and present. It strikes me that’s also true about good.

Satan before the Lord – Corrado Giaquinto

NOTE: Some light spoilers for Angelfall, iD, Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Wool and Lord of the Rings

In continuing my reflection on evil portrayed in SciFi and Fantasy (started here), I think that what I perceive as most evil are those visceral, personal evils perpetrated against the comparatively innocent or, at least, unwillingly participant. In retrospect, it stuns me that I find cutting up children to augment their physical capabilities and warp their thinking as gut retchingly bad while I’m much more cerebral about xenocide unknowingly committed by a kid and nearly wiping out a sentient species: mothers, daughters, fathers and sons. I think the wiping out of a species is just too big for me to take in. We mere mortals need to take in our evil (and good) in bit sizes. We wriggle in our seats when we see Ceti Eel (larva) go into ears of people to make them pliant, then kill them in Star Trek: Wrath of Khan or watch Jabba the Hutt lick his tongue out at Leia. Part of that reaction is that it’s just gross but much of it is because it is up close and person.

So what needs to be in place for use to truly hate evil done? We need to know it’s evil; bad directed at good or innocent. We may be intellectually saddened to see bad things happen to bad people, but we are not emotionally connected to it. We need to fully take it in and sense it. Sauron wanted to dominate all of Middle-Earth is evil; his methods are evil. However, we feel the virulent spite of Shelob and the palpable hatred of her to Frodo, as a free creature. Saurman is evil in his wonton destruction of trees in Fangorn and attack on Rohan. His spoiling of the Shire hits home.

We tend to allow physical evil to get to us. We can’t simply know that Mel Gibson’s Martin Riggs’s new love interest is killed, we need to see her held down by chains as he tries to free her and kiss her goodbye (or William Wallace’s wife is killed by the English or Benjamin Martin’s son Thomas is shot by the evil Dragoon, Tavington. Hey wait, there seems to be a theme here). This works because we see clear evil, in front of us, coldly done and without remorse. It is physical and we feel the blows or the shot. The decimation of the vN is terrible; it is xenocide. Threatening failsafe to rape a man then trick him into killing his love is mind-blowingly horrendous.

We also need to have a personal connection to the victim. When the infamous red shirt in Star Trek dies, we get over it. We hardly knew ye. We it appears Gandalf dies at the hands (or whip) of the Balrog, we (OK, I) through the book across the room as I say unkind things about Tolkien’s character.

The best evil is intimate. The betrayal of a Silo-mate and head of IT against the Mayor or the loss of great mechanics who have kept the Silo running; that’s up close and personal. While we love the epic battle between Aragorn and the Captains of the West against Sauron, it is the battle between Sam & Frodo and Gollum, the Ring and inner demons that captivates.

So we can do all of the cool world building, clever story twists and rain down really bad stuff in books, but it is as a babbling sound of noise without that close, personal connection. Thankfully, so many writers provide it, although when I feel like I’m going to loose my guts at its personal, intimate description, it takes just a little bravery to pick up that next Susan Ee or Madeline Ashby book. Hey, maybe that’s why there are pre-orders; we can order while we think it’s safe.

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iD is the sequel to vN by Madeline Ashby. I broke one of my basic reading rules to read this: always start with the first book in a series. iD is seriously good and can stand on its own, but I mostly wish I kept my rule. I guess this just means I’ll have to reread this sooner rather than later. On the plus side, I’ll provide a perspective for the .04% who tread where angels dare not and start the second book. By the way, got to say I love the cover (and the cover of vN).

There are so many good things to say about iD. Ms. Ashby takes known ingredients: androids, an Asmovian rule for human safety and the depravity of man to cook up incredibly rich relationships, drama and landscapes. iD is part SciFi, part mystery thriller and part love story all the while examining issues of race and oppression, relative weakness and perversion, AI and psychology, confused relationships and mixed up people (vN and otherwise) across a vast and varied world. Primarily, however, it simply great storytelling.

The world of Javier, the protagonist of iD, is one in which humans and vN (bio-synthetic androids) live together. vN are the new servants built for different and every type of service imaginable. It is a deeply varied world going from an artificial semi-intelligent island to jungle to a Disney-like country that is vN friendly. vN do have their own identity but subservient one to humans. There’s an overall Hispanic lean to the world that Javier inhabits; it’s kind of like a Firefly blending of cultures but this time Hispanic and North American as opposed to American/Chinese. vN cannot harm humans which leads, for some humans, to incredible abuse. vN present the best victim because, ultimately, they must obey and can never retaliate. Ms. Ashby displays the full depravity of man, and it is mostly men, on vN. I’m sure it started with the notion of a safety-valve; better perpetrate your sick desires on vN than on people. Of course, what occurred was a full release and encouragement for all the inner sick desires men have to the point of designing vN to accommodate pedophiles. Javier is more self-aware than most and can stand at some distance to humans, but still within the confines of the rules. He can desire to break the rules while he is still bound by them. All vN, male and female, can iterate – i.e., have progeny.

So we start in the world left off by vN, Portia is contained and Amy is, at least temporarily left on her own. Javier joins her on the island where their complex relationship takes shape. His love for Amy is unabashed and unreserved; hers, not so much. She’s a bit like Spinoza’s Monad – separate but completely connected to all things. She is always aware of the island and beyond. She is unable to fully give herself over to Javier. Javier’s relationships with his iterations are interesting; not quite parent-child, not quite friend. This stasis between Amy & the New Eden and, hence, vN and the world, cannot last long. The big, bad corporation/”church” New Eden intervenes and all hell breaks loose.

Ms. Ashby’s storytelling is terrific. Overall, I love her pacing. All of this analysis of social ills and relationship examination is a hard-driving drama – it’s a page turner. The one somewhat jarring note was Javier’s flashbacks and change of scenes. I believe that these wouldn’t be so jarring to someone who read vN and could quickly orient themselves in the vN world; I took a paragraph or so to figure out if Javier was in a dream, remembering or in a new scene. Ms. Ashby deftly sprinkles her story some references to Isaac Asimov and Philip K Dick. She doesn’t overdo the references (although I’m sure I’ve missed many). Ultimately, what makes this great narrative so powerful is that it weaves into the narrative the abuse of power and failed relationship and how interconnected those are. The bad guys can’t sustain a genuine relationship, but impose broken one-way “transactions” with others. The protagonist is all about relationship and at times sustaining, healing, grieving and initiating relationships with those around him. He also has an intimate connectedness to the world around him. It forces us to reflect on how we relate to those around us as well as the world around us. Don’t get me wrong; It is not a thinly veiled morality play but a true store that exposes the raw turmoil of our connections. All of this mentioning of relationship may make one think this is chick-lit SciFi; most definitely not. It’s wonderfully rich hard SciFi story that continues that long and illustrious tradition of examining social issues from the relatively safe confines of another world.

A couple of cautionary notes: This does fairly starkly, if not graphically, portray human oppression and perversion – this is not for children. The other is simply personal preference; I could have lived without the whole gay focus and didn’t think it integral to the story.

All of that being said, I heartily recommend iD and have already lock and loaded vN on my Kindle to catch-up. I look forward to future work by Ms. Ashby who combines a keen mind with great storytelling skills.

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Interworld is a really fun sci-fi adventure. I read this with one of my sons and while it fits its Juvenile category, we both enjoyed it. It contains a really interesting backdrop of a multi-dimensional universes where the sliver that contains versions with alternate Earth’s is the focus, the Altiverse. It plays out well with interesting, if not deep characters. This book is a lot like a good sci-fi summer film; it’s a great, fun ride with quick moving narrative hitting all the right spots for what it’s trying to do for its target audience (and beyond). No Oscars but a lot of fun.

Messrs. Gaiman and Reaves put out a delightful tale of a kid who is not “in” or cool who finds out why he’s misfit – he fits better in the Altiverse than just the sliver of it that’s our Earth. So taking the notion that our choices bring out a slew of Voltairian possible worlds, having a slice of these possible worlds contain alternate Earths and having a team work as a force that keeps balance been HEX (magical forces) and Binary (Science/Technology forces) who try to dominate the Altiverse and mixing in uncontrollable creatures who slip between all of the multidimensional universe (including those that don’t contain Earths) provides the quest for the protagonist, Joey Harker.

There are not a lot of deep messages or delving into social issues. It does incorporate themes familiar to this genre for Juveniles – misfits have a place, the risky choices we make that are based on doing the right thing and listening to our gut are the right ones, even when they cost and our greatest help and allies come from unlikely sources.

A couple of criticisms I’ve seen in some reviews

– Gee, this is really different from many of Gaiman’s books, he’s really good, and so that’s really bad.

– It’s not deep or adult enough even though it’s focused on the Juvenile age bracket.

Neil Gaiman is a really great writer. Interworld does not primarily exhibit his “voice” that’s present in Coraline and other books. Does this make this book a major disappointment or bad book? That’s a little like saying Catch Me if You Can or Raiders of the Lost Ark are bad because they are not Schindler’s List. I love that deceptively simply voice of Mr. Gaiman and the surprising journey on which he takes you. I love ending up in places I would never anticipate. That’s not, however, the only legitimate writing and this isn’t Mr. Gaiman’s book; it’s his and Reaves. I think we would be doing Mr. Reaves a disservice if we didn’t expect something a little different from their collaboration than pure Gaiman.

It terms of being adult enough, it’s pure, pop-corn smacking fun that I can feel comfortable with my son reading.

**** Light Spoiler ****

Do I agree with all of their choices? No. So what? I would have preferred an ending where the Old Man acknowledged that they incorrectly drummed Joey out and should have believed him. Yes a little humility goes a long way, but that should also go both ways.

Given the theoretical processing power of the Binary (of whom we learn little), you would think they would search through Earths with variants of “Joe Harker” name and some algorithm to look for similar faces to known Harker-variants and hunt them down.

Mrs. Harker and Mr. Dismas are almost too amazing and cool. I really like them but are they too good?

These are all nits. The story is great, the world is fabulous, and the characters are cool (even though not deeply developed). In terms of story mechanics, it nails them all – enough evil without making it to personal or gruesome for the targeted age bracket, a clear opening to continue the series with a genuine ending of the current book and terrific pacing.

Note: I switched between the Kindle version of this and the Audible version read by Christopher Evan Welch. Mr. Welch does a fine job with the character’s voice. I think it was a good choice to have him also read the sequel, The Silver Dream.

I highly recommend Interworld to anyone ready to have some fun with Sci-Fi on the lighter side. I will definitely read The Silver Dream, as will my son.

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In my relatively recent reading of SciFi and Fantasy books, the good v.s. battle seems to have moved to a “more realistic” and less good hero and more depraved and perverse evil.

To illustrate this I’ll use examples from Hugh Howey’s Wool series, Madeline Ashby’s upcoming iD, Susan EE’s Angelfall and contrast the evil within them to Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles series and B. V. Larson’s Technomancer; I also throw in a Lord of the Rings reference. These examples will, perforce, include spoilers of the novels. If you haven’t read one of them, and they’re all worth reading, come back when you have and bring your own reflections on the evil they depict.

*****SPOILERS*****

First, let’s get out right up front that SciFi and Fantasy have always depicted evil. Moreover, the evil couldn’t be wimpy. The evil would have to be portrayed as truly evil, powerful and somewhat pervasive (or on the road to making itself pervasive). Wimpy evil results in wimpy stories. We also need a good that can’t be too good or we would never identify with him. Sorry DC fans, but that’s why I could never really get into Superman. He’s too good and too powerful, Kryptonite and temptations for a real life aside. It’s also not like really bad things haven’t happen in the history of story. It goes back before Oedipus, the poster-child for unintended consequences.

No, really ugly evil has been with us throughout literature. So what’s different in this brave new world of evil embedded in narrative? I think it’s the gut-wrenching purposelessness of the intended evil. Either evil for its own sake or evil perpetrated when the ends could be accomplished by another means. Another form of evil that we see is one where there is a purpose but an utterly perverted one. Brutal thugs are evil but make a kind of sense in that they do the evil for some other end. They would prefer to have easier access to their goal but are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish it. Evil for evil sake is sad; evil for perverse evil’s sake is horrific.

So what are some of these examples:

Sentient, bio-synthetic androids for sex is pretty whacked. These aren’t just blown up sex toys, these are sentient beings. Designing and ensuring that some remain looking child-like to cater to pedophiles is beyond the pale. (iD)

Abducting live children, cutting them open, substituting different body parts, messing with their chemistry and psyche, to create ruthless

Sucking live people (mostly women) of their bodily fluids while kept alive via oxygen but paralized via anesthesia is not lovely. Luring women in for this lovely treatment by promise of food to a starving world simple adds icing to this sick cake. (Angelfall)

Preemptively wiping out the world then propagating a fiction so that you can control, for multiple generations, how people interact is so bad even the bad guys are hacked off about it while they continue to serve it (Wool)

According to the author of Frankenstein, we are all operate on enlightened or unenlightened self-interest: “No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.” — Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The evil in these books (and, all too often, in our world) doesn’t seem quite so rational. There is little any theological tome could do to argue more eloquently for the Christian doctrine of depravity than is depicted in these novels. Theologians remind us that the doctrine of depravity implies that all aspects of creation and man are fallen and marred by the fact of sin. It’s not that all people are as wicked as they can be; it’s that every aspect of a person is impacted by sin; or, as Yoda would warn us: The shroud of the Dark Side has fallen. These novels give us a picture of this depravity as effecting the whole world and about as wicked as you could imagine (I’m sure it can get worse).

There is a service being done here. Evil that is portrayed in it’s fully ugliness in an unreal context makes it easier to address the evil in our own world. There are men who treat women as sex objects here; showing this for what it is in creating synthetic but thinking sex objects brings out in stark relief just how wrong that is. Fantasy and especially SciFi have been a home for addressing social issues from racism and xenophobic behavior to an undue disparity between the rich and poor. By the way, for some good music for reading these gut-wrenching tales see more here: A Little Book Music

Let’s contrast that with some wanton evil from Tolkien. Saurman does all he can to destroy the ethos and ecology of the Shire. He does this simply out of spite; repayment for the destruction of Isengard (with the exception of the tower of Orthanc). While he is wrong in acknowledging the justice of said destruction and, thereby, the injustice of any retribution, in his warped mind it represents an instance of lex talionis or the retributive justice – “eye for eye and tooth for a tooth.”

If we take our dear friends the Chandrian, from Name of the Wind, they destroy an entire troop of Edema Ruh traveling players (including the protagonist’s parents). This was an incredibly ruthless and calculating move to keep all serious stories and song about them from being aired. It is akin to the paranoid power move by Herod to slaughter innocent children in hopes of killing off a future threat in Jesus.

Similarly, the Gray Men and the Community in Techromancer are factions jockeying for power. They use, abuse and kill people along the way; the “common” people do not matter.

While these represent evil, self-serving purpose on a colossal scale, it’s at least understandable. It’s the cutting up of live children to make them monsters or creating thinking beings to act as surrogate children for sex that I can’t quite wrap my head around. I guess I prefer my good guys to be just a little bit better and my bad guys to be just a little more rational than the direction current fiction is moving.

Do I have any brilliant suggestions out of this? No. Ask I indicated above, there is a benefit to hashing this out in novels and the change n evil may simply be our willingness to confront it more forcefully Will I still enjoy the fine work of Ashby, Ee and Howey. Oh yeah. I just might sprinkle some lighter fare in between so that the gut has time to return to its relaxed and over-large state to be wrenched again later. I’ll also recommend that some of these books not be read by teens; while they need to know about the evils of this world and the sick imaginings of our heart, I’m not sure it’s helpful to be as intimately engrossed in them as you might while reading a book. I’ll push them towards Name of the Wind and Techromancer and have them wait on Angelfall and iD.

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Let’s face it, we often listen to music while reading. We do it to block out the world and immerse ourselves in the world built by words. We do it with a focused mood, adding ambiance to the narrative. Much of the music we listen to deserves better treatment and more respect than being relegated to “background music”, but there you have it. This is where two of my passions collide – music and books. Clearly you don’t want to be pulled out of the narrative, so instrumental music works best. For me, the genres that work best are classical, jazz and soundtracks. [NOTE – Updates to new finds will be given at the end of the post] Soundtracks are an obvious choice because they are designed to drive narrative. Sometimes the choice is easily driven by the book, such as Howard Shore’s Lord of the Ring series or the new Hobbit soundtrack when reading Tolkien. Jerry Goldsmith’s Star Trek First Contact while reading David Mack’s Destiny series or John Williams’s Star Wars New Hope while reading Timothy Zahn’s Specter of the Past. Inception’s soundtrack is driving while Hugo’s is more lyrical. Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tide’s has a lighter aspect with a Mexican flair thanks to Rodrigo y Gabriela’s collaboration on the project with Hans Zimmer along with some really interesting remixes. Claude Bolling’s Suite for … and jazz piano is fun series to read by; I particularly like the Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano (with Jean-Pierre Rampal) and Suite for Cello and Jazz Piano (with Yo-Yo Ma). They all help set the stage while creating a sound barrier between us and that nasty real world trying to break our connection to our book. In the immortal words of Gandalf: interruption, “you shall not pass!” It works for writing as well. With reading, however, it sometimes connects us more intimately with the story, driving us in the heart of the world we inhabit while we read. A less obvious soundtrack, at least for me, is Halo’s soundtrack, especially Halo 3 (composed by Martin O’Donnell & Michael Salvatori). Who knew a game soundtrack could be so good? There is pathos and pounding, rainfall and rhapsodic tirades. This is great music to listen to while picking up your favorite SciFi action thriller. One of the more interesting pieces of music that I’ve listened to while reading is Satoh / Debussy / Messiaen / Takemitsu / Ravel played by Anne Akiko Meyers with Li Jian. Before I discuss this “book music”, I want to emphasize that it definitely should be listened to on its own with no distractions. It deserves your full attention (and it demands it). The first piece is Birds in Warped Time II for violin & piano by Somei Satoh. It pulls you in with a different tonality, rhythm and musical narrative than typically heard. It is a fusion of Japanese and European musical elements that is its own. While I’m fairly traditional in my musical tastes, falling more solidly on the Bach, Beethoven and Brahm side of the world than on the Philip Glass and John Cage side, this is a wonderfully gentle foray into a variety of different tonal shapes, from the haunting pace of Messiaen’s Thème et Variations for Violin and Piano to the lyrical yet eerie Distance de fée by Toru Takemitsu. As always, Ms. Meyers brings these to life with aplomb. You might ask why a musical work that requires (and deserves) such attention would be good to listen to while reading. Much of my reading of late has involved stark and disturbing depictions of depravity. SciFi (for example, iD by Madeline Ashby) and sometimes Fantasy (such as Angelfall by Susan Ee) are places where we deal with the social ills in different contexts. Lately, these social ills are played out in perverse ways on a different landscape and context. The Satoh / Debussy / Messiaen / Takemitsu / Ravel pieces on the album are hauntingly beautiful in a way that both places, at least me, into a mindset that the atypical is going to happen but the evil paraded in the books is not the last answer. There is always beauty. I’m both immersed into the depiction of evil and, at the same time, given perspective on it. _____________________________________________________________ “NEW ADDITIONS From time to time, when I come across some music that is particularly apt to envelop my reading (or writing), I’ll add it here. 4.14.14 – Ludovico Einaudi’s music is an ideal envelope in which to read or work since it tends to be characterized by a driving rhythm ground on which an enchanting melody grows. It doesn’t put you to sleep, but it also allows you to focus. I particularly recommend Nightbook (apt titled and Divenire).

Ludovico Einaudi

So queue up the music; where it’s the driving the narrative or delving you more deeply into the world of words, music and books make a beautiful couple.